When I saw them in the auction listing I had this feeling that I had seen them before, but couldn't put my finger on it. Then I realized the Betto and Oshita cards were featured on the cover of Sayonara Home Run, one of the few (only?) books out there about Japanese baseball cards.
It must have been tough to chose cards to put on the cover since there are so many really cool menko out there which would have worked. I can't disagree with their decision though, these cards check all the right boxes in terms of what make baseball menko look good: bold colors, cool design, etc.
The backs of these cards are pretty interesting too, they are basically the same as the fronts just without the color:
The set is also notable for its size. Most rectangular menko from that era are about the same dimensions of American tobacco cards, but there are bigger. They aren't quite as large as modern cards, but about halfway between the two.
The player selection ( Hiroshi Oshita, Kaoru Betto, Shigeru Sugishita, Tetsuharu Kawakami, Michio Nishizawa and Makoto Kozuru) is also pretty impressive, all six would end up in the Hall of Fame.
It's a nice paperback, but not of much value to those that already collect vintage Japanese baseball cards. It's more of a coffee table paperback - lots of artwork and not much info.
ReplyDeleteThanks, good to know! I might pick it up if I find a copy then but won't put it on the priority list!
DeleteI'll echo LazyMF - the pictures are nice and there was a useful breakdown of the back of a tobacco menko card but the text is just blurbs with some basic information.
ReplyDeleteSo information wise it doesn't have anything I can't get from Engel's guide?
DeleteI have a copy of the book. Definitely worth the read and a nice summary of Japanese cards.
ReplyDeleteDoes it have much text, or mostly pictures?
DeleteI'm getting mixed messages about whether this is worth picking up! :)
Never heard of the book... but the cover and your cards are very cool.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really seen the book in about 10 years, since it's in the US and I'm here. But I remember it mostly being a book of pictures, not really useful as a reference. Great images, definitely worth having as a vintage Japanese card collector, but Engel's book is much more important in regards to checklists, value, identifying cards, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think you have been fighting me for vintage cards on YJA. I remember seeing these and some of the other cards you've been posting on auctions, and I either get outbid or just don't bother bidding because the prices go to high (which means it's not just you, obviously).
Ha, as my recent posts indicate I've been pretty actively buying vintage stuff on YJA for the past few months (slowing down a bit now though), so its entirely likely we've been bidding against each other. I won this one for about 1200 Yen with a few other bids put on it.
DeleteFor the past couple of weeks I've removed myself from auctions over 1000 Yen or so, so its likely other people bidding stuff up right now (though there isn't much exciting stuff available at the moment).